Monday, December 19, 2016

How to Write a Swords & Wizardry Adventure While Learning to Facebook

I've been typing away, writing my Swords & Wizardry Light sandbox adventure, Hunters in Death. I've got about 4000 words in, give or take. How many words is the OGL? I guess I can't count those. While I've been writing, I've been learning the Facebook. That's right, I said 'the Facebook' like old people say. I've had an account for years, but never used it. Then +Erik Tenkar busted my chops for not using it. He said it gave a huge boost for his page views. Well if it helped his tavern I thought maybe it could help my manor. So that's why a bunch of you have gotten Friend Requests from me. But what the fuck is poking. I don't think I like that. Don't poke me.

One of the things I'm developing is a random encounter table, with lots of ruins. If you follow my blog you know I write micro-adventures for my Patreon. These random encounters are going to micro-adventures within themselves.

"You fucking crazy bastard, why would you do such a thing?"

Great question. Hunters in Death is going to be a sandbox adventure. The Komor Forest, where this takes place, is not going to be mapped. Like mega-dungeons, as soon as you start defining it, it loses its mystique. I want the GM to define the area as he or she imagines it. If you need a set of ruins a day away there they are. Like JMS, the creator of Babylon 5 once answered a question about how fast someone can travel in hyperspace, he said "they travel at the speed of plot." Meaning if you need something there the GM is not restricted by my map. What the random table does iy allows a GM to create a unique experience for their players. And could run it again with a completely different outcome. Make sense? I hope so.

Above are a few samples of ruins I'm drawing. Ignore that lines. Fricking cards I ordered all have them in them. So until I find new ones let's just call it a quirk of my map making.

One final note is I may have found an excellent editor to slash the shit out of my writing. I've already given him a sample and he properly trounced with a savage electronic pen. I will lean on him heavily to make myself look good. He has a Herculean task in front of him.

One last, last note. If you're on 'the Facebook' hit me up with a friends request. I'm Gothridge Manor there also.

I initially had the same problem - and be warned, many game creators are very vocal about their political beliefs and ideas on FB - I just avoid that stuff for the most part.

There is a lot of gaming discussion that does go on there and it certainly does drive traffic for The Tavern, any where from a 3 to 2 ratio to a 2 to 1 ratio over G+ Even if the numbers were even, that are eyes on posts that you wouldnt get otherwise.

I do find that Communities on FB get more activity that just posts to the wilds of FB, but that might just be me.